Fareham Borough Council: Pure Town Planning were very pleased to recently obtain planning consent for a scheme of retirement apartments in Park Gate near Fareham in Hampshire, acting for a leading developer of this housing type. The site comprised six existing dwellings on deep plots close to Park Gate local centre. The proposal is to demolish all the dwellings and erect a four-storey block of apartments with communal facilities, new access and car parking.
The main issue for a scheme such as this is often the impact of such a proposal on the character and appearance of the area. The Fareham Borough Council planning officer accepted early on that the location was appropriate for this kind of change. However Pure Town Planning stayed in close contact with the planning officer working to make minor modifications as were necessary to come to a mutually acceptable scheme.
In this case the key issue turned out to be the amount of car parking proposed. Car parking at retirement apartments schemes is typically a fraction of what is required for regular apartments – most retirement apartment residents give up their car when they move into such accommodation. But it is often difficult to accept these numbers as being adequate when they seem so low. In this case we worked with our client’s transport consultants to provide the evidence from other schemes elsewhere in similar locations. We were able to persuade the Council’s highway officer and planning officer that the proposed parking provision was sufficient. Being a major application, the planning application was taken to the Council’s planning committee where once again we had our work cut out to make the case for the parking provision. Fortunately Councillors were forced to accept that our evidence was robust and thus voted to approve the application.
If you have a complex planning proposal which you would like to give the best possible chance of success then get in touch with Pure Town Planning to find out how we might be able to help you.